'The Lead' hits ratings hurdle on debut

3/19/13 5:37 PM EDT

At last night's party for the premiere of "The Lead with Jake Tapper," CNN president Jeff Zucker called the new host "the face of the new CNN." But first-day ratings show there is still work to be done.

Early viewership isn't necessarily indicative of what's to come, but "The Lead" had a notably rough start. On its first day, it drew just 400,000 viewers and 87,000 viewers in the coveted 25-54 demo, putting Tapper in fourth place behind Fox News (1.102M / 172K), HLN (779K / 211K) and MSNBC (479K / 100K), according to ratings provided by TVNewser.

Last Monday, CNN had 427,000 viewers in the 4pm hour, though only 54,000 in the demo -- so there's a silver lining there. The full breakdown here.